Grand Ballroom, Alfheim Palace, Faerie

[anarchist_queen]

There were more nobles and dignitaries gathered together here since the end of the war. Lord Dagos of the Merfolk, King Thane of the Dwarves, the Matriarch of the Dragons were in attendance along with their immediate families. All the nobles of the lands of Faerie, even some from Unseelie Lands were there as well.

And then there were those Leda was meeting for the first time. The Dryads, Pixies, Kitsune, Nunnehi and Menehune had all sent representatives. And countless others.

Though naturally no Diplomats from the Human realms could be present, the Elven ambassadors to their countries had sent greetings and gifts from them.

"Furachoque of Iguaque!" the herald announced another arrival. A woman in rather elaborate golden attire entered. Her people inhabited a tropical land rich in metallic ore. They traded regularly with the Dwarves, though they were best terms with the Nunnehi and had ancient ties with the Merfolk. Their capital had become known as El Dorado out in the world. She resembled the Elves save for one difference, her feet faced backwards.

[For those invited. The herald is moddable on hand to announce you as you wish.]

Comments

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

Fathoms deep, and stories high.

"I can see the draw of the country, though I fear I'm not cut out for chopping wood, toting water, and tending sheep. A city bell sets my morning at ease more than a crowing cock, and I prefer the safety of buildings and alleys than forests and streams." Or mountains, goblins in said mountains, and fighting, and Roald--that flashed across his memories briefly, and it was possible that a sensitive could feel the emotions of panic, anger, and sorrow.

His eyebrows raised, and he repeated his bow. "To the heir," he said, raising his glass. "You must tell me more." Digging, indeed.

Bedtime!

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

It wasn't that Dagos was trying to cause problems. Simply that the Queen was a puzzle to him and all who knew her were pieces of that puzzle. And the fact that one of the heroes, one of her nearest and dearest, seemed not to have heard some details of the queen's past intrigued him.

Emotions he picked up from the boy were no more than he'd have expected from a seasoned adventurer. Sounded like he had good sense to feel those. Maybe his niece could pick up such sense.

Sila gave her Grand Uncle a dirty look. I definitely think those stories should be told in a more private setting." she said. Which could be arranged. In her opinion, James counted as family, so she could tell him.

Incidentally I'm sure Leda would have told James at least a little of the past 20 years, that she married Sila's mother, adopted the girl, and a few years later they divorced.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"I would agree to that, somewhere less...public." something was bothering him. Not quite his 'bump of trouble,' but nonetheless.

leda prolly has but the mun forgot. Bad mun!

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"Please excuse us Uncle." Sila said, taking James' arm. "I'll see you later before you depart, I promise."

Thwarted in his efforts to glean more, Dagos nodded, and went off in search of less shrewd 'prey'.

"So, which part did you need exposition of?" she asked when they were alone.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"I would hearbeverything," he said. "From another's point of view, to see what changes with the telling." He shrugged. Sometimes he did not believe himself, and he was there, in places. He focussed on her face, waiting dor her response.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"Well, in terms of why it's ironic that I'm the shiny new heir to the throne of Faerie, Mom and Uncle Dagos do not get along. Partly it's political, but the real hard part is that she also is super creeped out by him." She sighed. "By almost all Merfolk actually. It's nothing really racial as far as I can tell, she's just terrified of the sea and pretty much everything in it. That Cuero attack he mentioned didn't help. That's pretty much the most horrific thing living in the ocean and it came damn near close to killing her."

Leda also wasn't happy that Dagos of all people had seen her being a full on damsel in distress, but Sila didn't know that.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"The sea is vast and we are tiny," he said, paraphrasing a quote from the sailors and dockworkers back home. "Does your uncleknow of his hurtfulness? He seemed a bit bent," he said with a half shrug.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"It's hard to know with him. They say Elves do deadpan better than anyone, but Uncle Dagos out does them all. They're not around each other very often so it's rarely an issue. Whenever he visits I try to keep him away from her. But what family doesn't have it's issues with in laws right?" She sighed. "At least he stopped mentioning Mother around Mom."

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"My elves are known for their subtle humor," he said. "One of those I trust with my life was raised by elves, with such a dry wit that calling it 'deadpan' does insult to the dead, as they are much more lively."

Oh, that was a bad choice of words, Jimmy me lad. Remember that time with the corpses that were very lively? Laughing Jack, in the basement of the palace? This time his wince was not as subtle. "Bad choice of words."

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"You fought zombies?" she guessed.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"Worse than at Fandom. Complete incineration or removal of the heart," he said, taking a long swallow of his drink. It wasn't enough. "Or divine intervention." As with Laughing Jack.

Dark times.

"We were lucky. We also had a good priest."

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"We don't get too much of that here." Sila said. "But Corwyn's nephew in Bordertown has used similar things."

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

No trace of any good humor remained on his face. "Should you need help, you can find me. They are abominations. I will assist." He took a drink, and forced a smile back on his face.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"I totally will. But he's only done it once and we've been able to handle him so far. So...what else...oh, you haven't seen mom drinking tonight have you?" She hadn't seen her mother in several months, and she always worried when she was away.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

The definition of 'handle' may involve 'part of a shovel' should James need to handle the situation, but it may be too heavy handed for a given situation.

"I believe so. Is the queen not allowed to imbibe?" A few drinks to get into the spirit may be forgiven, but enough to embarrass the realm or agree to actions or decisions regretted once sober is something else entirely.


there's that bedtime thing again, comes so quickly!

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

There was some talk about attempting to rid Bordertown of this pillar of the community once and for all. Primarily it was fear that such a battle would cause too much collateral damage, rather than some heavy handed moral stance against killing.

Sila was confused for a moment, not realizing that James hadn't known Leda as long as some of her Mom's other friends. And therefore may not know about certain aspects of her past. "Mom's an alcoholic." she said, surprised. "Or, sort of. Her particular poison is usually a lot stronger than any regular booze, but anything intoxicating will do."

Sila had found out about this when her Mother had divorced Leda, and she had fallen off the wagon. That was when Aunts Sai and Wiseguy had informed her of her adopted Mom's history of substance abuse when she was a teenager.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"I see," he said, blinking rapidly. "Could not say what was in the glass, but I recall her holding one."

Tea. Totally tea.

Sometimes friends don't tell everything from their pasts, though it should be something that James should have picked up, had he put the effort into it. He reviewed some memories, and his brain went 'click'.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Leda had mostly averted temptations by replacing the consuption of intoxicating substances with caffinated ones. Her favorite these days was Red Bull. And mocha frappes.

"Hmm. Well I'm sure Aunt Wiseguy'll keep an eye on her. And we've got plenty of non-alchy drinks too. Fortunately she doesn't get too hyper if she has too much sugar."

Sila and Ron stopped a riot from occurring in Bordertown by playing this song.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

That explains the cases of Red Bull and the untouched vodka. "Good, as she tends to lean towards things with sugar and other such things. I've tried the Dew before, made me a bit twitchy." Because the last thing the Hand needed was a caffeine buzz.

Proof. I wants it.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"I've heard of that. Mom says it's pretty good, but she just prefers Red Bull. Me I'm partial to anything with chocolate in it."

proof. As a side effect, according to a postcard sent to Momoko later, Bordertown had a "once more with fandom" week.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"Fandom provides a very large assortment of food and drink. There are drinks with coffee in everything, should you need tea or beer or fizzy drinks. Or chocolate."

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Sila had once had daydreams about attending Fandom High. But she was past high school age by the time Faery got re-connected.

She giggled. "Oh you should have seen Mom's face when she found out she could get that stuff again. I thought she was gonna have to change her pants." Clearly someone had picked up some of her adopted mother's less classy ways of talking.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

Right. Because the school had never seen, say, a 200+ year old vampire as a student. Just say it's an elf thing.

He chuckled. "I can imagine. Finding out after all these years?"

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Ah, if only OC's were allowed.

"Come to think of it I may have had a similar reaction the first time I tried one of those chocolate/peanut butter combinations."